Maybe we could dig up the graves of some soldiers for rocks to send to Afghanistan as execution ammunition? That's just about the only way I can think of to make this more offensive.

I've friend who deploys to Afghanistan in March next year and will not be back until January 2015. I suspect his job will be turning down the duvets and putting mints on the pillows for the Taliban to get comfy just as soon as the last ISAF forces leave.

There is no reason to stay there after 2014. There was not a reason to stay after Osama was killed. We just do not know when to come home. We still have troops in Germany and Japan from WW2.

Germany and Japan were different situations. We were actually in war with countries which had well-defined leadership, and we had to rebuild the countries from the ground up. We may have overstayed our welcome, but they aren't bombing our bases to make us leave, either. And, they don't routinely engage in human rights abuses, like stoning. Their females get an education and can drive cars.

We need to get the hell out of Afghanistan. There is no country to rebuild because we didn't destroy anything.

There is no reason to stay there after 2014. There was not a reason to stay after Osama was killed. We just do not know when to come home. We still have troops in Germany and Japan from WW2.

Germany and Japan were different situations. We were actually in war with countries which had well-defined leadership, and we had to rebuild the countries from the ground up. We may have overstayed our welcome, but they aren't bombing our bases to make us leave, either. And, they don't routinely engage in human rights abuses, like stoning. Their females get an education and can drive cars.

We need to get the hell out of Afghanistan. There is no country to rebuild because we didn't destroy anything.

Countries like Afghanistan and Kuwait are gateways to where the oil has to come through to be shipped across to the USA,that is one of the reasons we are there isn't it?

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There's no right there's no wrong,there's just popular opinion (Brad Pitt as Jeffery Goines in 12 monkeys)

Countries like Afghanistan and Kuwait are gateways to where the oil has to come through to be shipped across to the USA,that is one of the reasons we are there isn't it?

Afghanistan isn't one of the top 100 countries with proven oil reserves, though I've heard that Afghanistan has untapped natural gas reserves. It appears to be about 60th in the world. I don't think any of their natural resources are being tapped. So, if we are there for natural resources we aren't doing a very good job of manipulating them.

Did we even get one drop of oil out of Iraq? Did we get reimbursed for anything from the sale of Iraq's oil? While I agree that we went to Iraq for the oil, a lack of income from Iraq oil twice underlines the ineptitude of the Bush Administration.

Since we have been told repeatedly that we were there so long because we had to rebuild nations, we apparently suck at it.

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John 14:2 :: In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

I am old enough to remember the beginning of recent UK involvement in Afghanistan: at the time, the TV News was full of "This is how we will stop the production of opium/heroin."

Later it became "Democracy for Afghanistan", well they voted for stoning - seems democratic to me.

Afghanistan has long been a buffer-state between Russia and India and later (now) between extremism and Pakistan. The problem has been that Afghanistan is anarchic and not a real country. It is more an area controlled by war-lords whose interests are themselves. The British tried to subdue the place in the First Anglo-Afghan WarWiki (1839–1842), the Second Anglo-Afghan WarWiki (1878–1880) and the Third Anglo-Afghan WarWiki (1919) and then tried to install a puppet regime (shortly afterwards.) The Russian tried to take the place.

Nobody reads history and nobody learns. The Afghans are mired in the 12 century and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

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Nobody says “There are many things that we thought were natural processes, but now know that a god did them.”